'The hidden costs of the hospital merger will hit the most vulnerable hardest': Your Gazette Letters

At that time I viewed it inevitable Colchester General Hospital would need to merge with Ipswich or Chelmsford hospitals.

I suspect someone in the NHS has already drawn up a list of hospital mergers.

The problems at Colchester will have just speeded up this process.

The merger is supposed to save the hospital trust £33million, but has anyone taken account of the costs transferred to other people as a result of the merger.

Ambulances will need to travel further, for example, to take a heart attack patient to the hospital specialising in heart conditions.

Ambulances travelling further cost lives due to patients arriving at hospital after the first “golden hour” for treatment.

This will especially apply to the Clacton, Harwich, Saxmundham and Eye areas.

Patients and visitors travelling further will cost money.

The result of this is to move the costs from the general taxation to those least able to afford extra expense - the sick and old.

As a society, do we really want to do this?

For working people, an outpatient appointment is likely to mean a loss of half a day or even a whole day rather than a couple of hours due to travelling further.

Businesses and individuals will have to absorb this cost.

If the hidden costs outweigh the savings, this merger is the wrong thing to do.

A further example of consequences that are linked is the free bus passes for the elderly, and hospital operations.

Free bus passes are paid for by the county council.

If the former arrangement for half price fares was reverted to, there could be more money for social care.

More money for social care means less bed blocking, which means fewer delayed operations.

So free bus passes for some pensioners could delay another pensioner’s hip operation.

The present consultation about the merger of Ipswich and Colchester hospitals is taking place on much too little information without the wider picture being considered.

This is being done to make the process more acceptable and easier to progress with fewer objections from the public.

If you are really concerned about these issues please write to our MPs as the hospital consultation has been effectively rigged due to its narrow terms of reference.

Kenneth Gray Anemone Court, Colchester

• Politeness and decency lacking

What is wrong with our council?

What has happened to common sense, politeness and decency?

We have lived on the corner of Lucas Road and Mersea Road for more than 32 years and there have always been four parking places with a two-hour restriction between 8am and 6pm Monday to Saturday outside our building with a sign explaining this on our wall.

One Saturday, my brother, who was visiting and was parked within the legal time limit got a parking ticket.

A neighbour’s visitor also got one.

When we checked the sign it had disappeared, leaving holes in our wall.

There are cars outside today with tickets.

Is it just coincidence the traffic warden is around every day at present, or is it a cynical move on the part of the council to make money out of unsuspecting law-abiding people?

I phoned the council to see if it was a prank and was told the parking spaces were now “whatever the rest of the road is”.

The rest of the road is residents’ parking only.

So guess what? A lot of people who have used these spaces regularly and legally are getting tickets.

Why wasn’t anyone told about this and where is the new sign to make ticketing legal?

B Parrick Mersea Road, Colchester

• Firstsite is on the right track from latest showing

Last Saturday I attended the Cultural Traffic event at Firstsite gallery.

The main exhibition rooms proudly displayed the internationally acclaimed, British born, English artist Gee Vaucher’s works.

The outside hallway and foyer hosted the fair for counterculture material with makeshift stalls featuring over 40 dealers of new, rare and collectible books, prints, posters, catalogues, vinyl and tapes.

Alongside the fair were performances, poetry, music and film.

Also, there was a free, hands-on workshop on the art of letterpress run by artists Tom Armstrong and Paul Butler.

Gee Vaucher’s exhibition was revolutionary, thought provoking and philosophical and very enjoyable.

The counterculture fair was equally revolutionary, thought provoking and enjoyable and there were different genres and ideas presented by various artists of mainly British but also of international origin, their works shedding light on their differing passions and lifestyles.

That reminded me that true art cannot be dictated and does not stay inside strict boundaries of ideas, nations or lifestyles.

The letterpress workshop by Tom and Paul was a hit with kids on half term holidays and an occasional big kid like myself.

Looking outside the glass door while letter pressing I saw youngsters in lovely attire performing sword fighting on the grass lawn.

The day at the gallery made me think Firstsite is doing the right things as a modern, contemporary art gallery.

Since it held the open exhibition in the autumn of 2015, Firstsite has proved to the public time and again that it is forward thinking and is on the right track as a contemporary gallery.

As an art loving resident of Colchester I hope that this trend will continue.

Dr Wynn Aung Squirrels Field, Colchester

• Help us honour our heroes

I AM head of travel for the travel arm of the Royal British Legion, Remembrance Travel, and I’m on a mission to find every single surviving D-Day veteran.

The Treasury is enabling a series of free-of-charge tours for D-Day veterans to return to Normandy and pay their respects to their fallen comrades.

The tours are being funded by the Treasury from LIBOR fines, and will enable a D-Day veteran to return with a family member and carer on a six-night tour.

The 2017 tours will take place in March, April, May and September and will give Normandy veterans, now mostly in their nineties, the chance to revisit the Normandy beaches, cemeteries and memorials.

The tours will be accompanied by a medic and a guide from the Royal British Legion.

The tours will depart from London and will include Eurotunnel from Dover to Calais, accommodation, visits to Pegasus Bridge, Juno, Sword, Gold beaches, Arromanches, and war memorials, plus visits to personally specified cemeteries too.

Sadly, there is no database of D-Day veterans so we’re calling on the goodwill of the media and general public to spread the word.

If you know a D-Day veteran, let them know about our free tours.

Normandy veterans wishing to benefit need to apply to our tour operator, Arena Travel, on 01473 660800, or visit arenatravel.com/journeysofremembrance.

Nichola Rowlands Remembrance Travel London